The Flesh Eating Noh Mask!
"Come on Keira, hurry!" Kagome shouted, pedaling fiercely towards the well. I easily jogged beside her, wondering why she was in such a hurry. I soon found out why as Inuyasha came running up the road with a deadly look on his face.
"GET BACK HERE WENCH!" he yelled, shaking his fist. I smiled, having returned to my normal self when I got near Kagome.
"I'll be back soon!" she cried over her shoulder, pedaling faster. Inuyasha jumped in front of her, blocking the entrance to the well.
"Oh and what about the jewel?" he asked, crossing his arms. I snuck behind him and jumped into the well to beat Kagome home. I landed softly on my feet and activated the concealing necklace Kaede made for me. She basically took my original necklace and charmed it, adding a bead in the middle so I could turn it off by touching it. I felt a blanket of warmth surround me and I knew that that was the sign that the necklace was working. My sense of smell, hearing and sight decreased much to my discomfort. I climbed quickly up the ladder and stepped onto the ground. Kagome's grandpa fell backwards, almost spilling the container of what looked to be rice wine in his hands.
"Uh… what are you doing old man?" I asked suspiciously. He laughed nervously, before hiding the wine behind his back.
"It's nothing dear child. It's just a prayer to bring back you and Kagome. I'm almost finished," he said. I shook my head disapprovingly and started to walk out of the well house. "Oh, Keira could you clean out the storage house? I'm busy," he stated. I knew what he was doing.
"Sorry old man, but that only works on Kagome. Do it yourself," I smiled, walking to the house. I was digging in the fridge when Kagome stomped in, soaking wet and smelling of rice wine. I chuckled as she stomped upstairs. I shoved the rest of a rice ball in my mouth, and, taking one for Kagome, I ran after her. She was rinsing her hair in the sink, her clothes already changed. I was surprised to see Kagome wearing a burgundy tank top and grey sweats instead of weird flannel pajamas or a skirt. She wrapped her hair in a towel, grabbing the rice ball off the plate and shoving the whole thing in her mouth before rushing into her room and closing the door. I shrugged, knowing that when Kagome wanted to study, she wanted to be left alone.
I walked into my room, lying on my bed with my head hanging off the end. I tapped my necklace, and the warmth lifted. My senses return to normal and I felt a slight demonic aura, but I just put it off as being the well. After all, there were no demons in the modern era that I knew of. My father must have fallen through the well somehow.
I lay there bored, so I tried to water bend a little. The water seemed to have no connection to me like it did in the Feudal Era, almost like it was dead. The earth and plants' connection was still there, but it was sick and weak. I became worried, and threw open my window to contact the air. The air had to have some life left! It was the most free and easy adapting element there was. I got an even weaker response from the air, and I had to close my window from the fumes. I tapped my necklace to look human again, and ran out to the gardening shed for some plant seeds, soil, and a pot. I planted some irises, my favorite flower, and encouraged them to grow. I was desperate for some healthy plant life. I put my hand on the ground and tried to find some pure water. I must have been there for twenty minutes before I found a tiny pocket, and twice as long to coax it out of its safe place.
I finally got the flower to bloom, and I felt relieved to be able to communicate with an element successfully. I took the pot with me to my room, silently promising to plant it in the feudal era when I got back. I set it on the window sill, and fell asleep watching it continue to grow slowly.
I woke up to Kagome pounding on my bedroom door. I cracked an eye open, groaning and rolling over.
"I'm up, I'm up!" I growled, rolling out of bed. I hit the floor with a THUMP, before dragging myself up. I glanced at my iris, and saw that it had grown tremendously. There were at least nine more blooms, and they were all leaning towards me eagerly. I gently brushed the petals as I passed, and they grew another half an inch in joy.
I hopped in the shower, tapping my necklace and taking it off. I showered quickly and dried myself off with a fluffy towel. I dressed in faded skinny jeans, a blue shirt with a picture of a cactus that said "hugs?" and a black leather half jacket. I went downstairs and saw Aunt Rachio cooking in the kitchen, and Kagome hurriedly drinking a glass of orange juice and stuffing a muffin into her mouth. She swallowed and started reprimanding me.
"Why aren't you in your uniform? We have school today!" she scolded, tying her necktie. I rolled my eyes, clearing her plate for her.
"I dropped out. I'm not staying in this era permanently anymore, so school won't matter. I promised to help your mom around here too. The tourist season is right around the corner, and the place needs to look nice. We need as many customers as we can get," I said, grabbing my sunglasses and the grocery money and tapping my necklace on the way out. Kagome seemed shocked at my statement, and I took the opportunity to get as far away as I could before she exploded.
I stepped out of the butchers' shop, and was almost run over by a few kids running down the street. I looked where they were running, and saw a trail of smoke winding into the sky. My eyes widened as I recognized that the smoke was coming from the shrine. I paid some kid ten dollars to bring the groceries to the shrine, and ran home. Kagome met me near the steps, and we met her mother at the gate.
"Mom! What's going on?" Kagome cried frantically. Kagome's mother smiled tiredly, and I slung my arm across her shoulders to offer support.
"It's okay Kagome. The storehouse just caught on fire, though your grandfather was stuck in the building and inhaled some smoke. He'll have to stay in the hospital for a few days though, and I'll be staying with him. Please take care of Souta while I'm gone. Stay safe!" she said, walking down the steps to a cab that was waiting on the street. Something about the whole situation felt off, but I couldn't turn my necklace off with all the people here. Souta came running as fast as he could, and crashed into Kagome, nearly making her fall over.
"Kagome! I came as fast as I could!" he said breathlessly. Kagome knelt in front of him and grabbed his shoulders.
"It's okay Souta, no one was hurt! It was just in the storage house," she explained.
Terrible screeching sounds made us all run for the front of the shrine. A fire truck had gone out of control, crushing every car in its way. Kagome and I watched in horror as it drove away, but eventually went back inside.
I was sitting in Kagome's grandfather's room in the hospital while she was outside talking to her mother. He twitched for a moment, before mumbling something about a "flesh eating Noh mask" before passing out again. I frowned in confusion and brushed it off, thinking he was delusional. Kagome agreed with me, and she sat down in the chair next to me.
"Kagome, I have something to tell you," I said. She motioned for me to continue, which I did. "I can't use my powers here. Everything is so polluted that the elements barely have any life anymore. It makes me so upset. How could people do this?"
"It'll be okay Keira. I thought about what you said earlier, and I understand why you love the feudal era so much. I love it too," she said, leaning against me. Most of our conversations went this way, me always ending up comforting her instead of the other way around. But I wasn't one to complain. We sat there for a little while longer before taking Souta home.
"So, why are you still studying?" I asked, lounging on Kagome's bed. She sighed, swiveling around in her chair to face me.
"I have a huge math final tomorrow! Though my attendance might not even be good enough anyway!" she said worriedly, turning back to her books. We both looked up when Souta opened the door, carrying a pillow and sleeping bag.
"Hey sis, can I sleep in here tonight?" he asked timidly, hugging his pillow to his chest. I smiled and Kagome sighed, the "no" look on her face.
"Of course you can Souta. I was going to stay in here too," I said before Kagome could say no. He smiled and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Kags, can't I take this thing off now?" I whined, tugging on my necklace. She thought for a minute, and finally relented. I took it off, and set it on the desk. Souta stared at me in amazement and I laughed. My ears focused on a whooshing sound outside and I sat straight. I managed to get Kagome and Souta out of the way as a fire truck's rescue bucket crashed through the wall. A blob thing dove in the window and reached for the shards. It had a Noh mask for a face, and the smell of dead flesh radiated from the body. Kagome grabbed the bottle with the jewel shards while I grabbed Souta and ran out the door. I ran down the steps beside Kagome, making sure she didn't fall. I barely noticed the faintest pink glow that I could only guess was a jewel shard.
"Souta go to the well and get Inuyasha! Just tell him that there's a jewel shard here, that'll be enough to make him come. Keira, just keep him safe!" she cried, running down the street. I thought about ignoring her and fighting the demon, but decided against it as Souta tripped. I caught him and ran into the well house. I jumped down, carrying Souta on my shoulder. I landed in the bottom of the well in the feudal era, and noticed that Souta wasn't with me. I was about to jump back and get him when I heard Inuyasha yelling about something. I leapt out and landed on the grass before speeding towards Kaede's hut.
I threw the straw mat aside, finding Inuyasha fuming in the corner and Kaede pounding herbs.
"Inuyasha!" I said hurriedly. "Kagome's in major trouble. There's a demon chasing after her with a jewel shard!" he huffed and crossed his arms childishly.
"Can't you handle this? It's just one demon, it should be easy! Besides, she threw my back out when you snuck off!" he growled.
"You don't think I would have tried that before coming here? The last thing I want is to come crawling for someone else's help!" I snapped.
"Then why'd you come?" he shouted.
"My powers won't work. The modern era is too polluted. Now come on!" I said.
"No way! She didn't even apologize to me! Do you know how many times she sat me?" he grumbled. I grabbed his ear and tugged him out the door and to the well, with him saying "ow, ow, ow" the whole way. I shoved him in and jumped down after him. When I got through, he was being all brave and manly for Souta. I rolled my eyes and jumped out after him, running on the rooftops to remain unseen. I caught the scent of Kagome's blood, and I left Inuyasha in the dust. Kagome had stupidly run onto a construction site, and was at least ten floors up on a steel girder. I easily cleared the jump and landed beside her, slicing through a gooey tentacle that the demon had shot at Kagome.
"So, do you know anything about the history of this thing?" I asked, shaking the goo off my hand. Kagome nodded, panting, and wiped some sweat off her forehead.
"It's a Noh mask. It was carved from a tree that had a sacred jewel shard embedded in it, and since then it's been devouring humans so that it can have a human body. It probably broke through the seals once it sensed the jewel shards, and set the store house on fire," she explained. I cut through another tentacle, but was grabbed by three more.
"Bwah ha ha ha!" it laughed, dragging me towards it. "I shall devour your power and take your body!" Since I knew that my demon powers didn't work, I tapped into my miko powers. I was able to purify the tentacles holding me and it shrieked. It dropped me before sending more tentacles at me and Kagome at the same time. I sent a blast of miko energy towards her, and formed a barrier. As soon as the tentacles touched it, they were purified to dust. The purification travelled up the tentacles, and almost reached the main body before it cast them away. I sliced through the tentacles that were aimed at me, and I let my barrier dissipate when Inuyasha showed up. I immediately felt extremely tired, and wanted more than anything to just go to sleep. I used the last of my energy to jump next to Kagome, and couldn't remain standing any longer. I crumpled to my knees, panting. Inuyasha stopped fighting and turned towards kagome, a smug look on his face.
"Now, before I do anything else, I want an apology for what you did wench!" he yelled, glaring at her. Kagome looked at him in confusion for a moment, before the figurative light bulb lit up inside her head.
"Oh yeah, that. Sorry!" she said, trying not to giggle. Inuyasha deadpanned.
"You don't even mean it! You don't feel sorry at all for what you did!" he screamed. Souta's face fell, and I knew that his impression of Inuyasha had just gone way down. Kagome giggled and tried to disguise it as a couch, before clasping her hands together.
"Okay, I'm very sorry. Are you satisfied now?" she asked amusedly. Inuyasha grumbled, but started fighting the Noh mask again.
"I don't know what you've been eating, but you need to lose some weight!" he snarled, trying to punch it. The mask cracked open, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth, and bit into Inuyasha's arm. He tried to pull it out, but realized that he was stuck.
"Keira, I could use your help!" Inuyasha said, his arm stuck in the Noh mask's mouth.
"I'm more demon than miko Yashie. Using my miko powers drains my energy much faster because I hardly ever use them. Sorry, but I'm down for at least three hours."
"Well that's just great!" he griped, pulling his arm out of the mask's mouth. The mask disconnected from the body, and flew at Kagome, trying to attach itself to her face. I managed to get up and grab the mask from behind. It stared at me for a moment before trying to attach itself to my face. I pushed it away and started running from it with all my remaining strength.
"Uhm... hello?" I cried, running past Inuyasha. "I'm kind of being chased by a mask that wants to possess me! I'm powerless and tired. Please, feel free to jump in any time!" Inuyasha grabbed the mask and crushed it, making the jewel shard fall out. Unfortunately, I couldn't run anymore and I fell, cutting my arm. The jewel shard fell into the gash, which closed immediately. I felt the power course through my veins, and I channeled it to my inner miko instead of my inner demon like most would do. My miko powers increased incredibly, and I saw the aura from the well all the way from the construction site.
"Keira, what the heck did you do?" Inuyasha yelled, shaking my shoulder and grabbing the front of my shirt in his fist. I growled and twisted his wrist around, making him yelp in pain.
"You dare lay a hand on me?" I said coldly. He gulped and his eyes widened. "Do you know who I am? If we had been anywhere near my palace and you had- SHIT," I groaned, slapping my forehead and dragging my hand down my face. I realized that I had just revealed my new position in the feudal era, something that I had wished to remain a secret for a while longer.
"Palace? What the hell are you talking about?" Inuyasha snapped. Kagome was looking at me like I was crazy, and Souta just looked confused.
"I'll tell you later. Let's get Souta home first." I sighed, jumping off the beam and heading home.
0909090909 EARLY THAT MORNING 090909090
"So, basically, you gained the Eastern Lands after you killed your father who killed your mother?" Kagome said. I nodded and finished helping Kagome pack her bag. Inuyasha was still in shock from finding out that I ruled all of the Eastern Lands, and hadn't said a word.
"I didn't want them, but I had no choice. His second wife should have received them, but she died protecting me," I explained. "They had not been married long enough to bear children. Their child would not have received the lands anyway, since I had been born first. From my understanding, they would have searched for hundreds of years before giving the child the throne," I murmured, mostly to myself.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go already!" Inuyasha griped, already walking out the door. Kagome heaved her bag onto her back and walked outside.
"Bye Souta! See you later!" she shouted, huffing under the weight of her bag.
"Don't you think you packed too much sis?" he yelled from the door. Kagome shook her head and almost fell over. I sighed and grabbed her bag from her, and ran to Inuyasha.
"Hey Yashie, Kagome's too shy to ask you, but could you carry this for her pleeeeease?" I asked, giving my best puppy dog look. He tried to look away, but grabbed the bag anyway.
"Fine, just stop looking at me like that!" he said, covering my face with his hand and pushing it away playfully.
"Ooh you're lucky Kagome likes you!" I teased, giving him a noogie and running to the well house.
"Hey!" he shouted, chasing after me. I laughed and jumped into the swirling lights of the well.
I landed on the grass outside the well and waited for Inuyasha to jump out with Kagome.
"Let's go to the East!" Kagome suggested, turning and starting to walk already.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled, grabbing her arm. She was about to yell at him when she saw the look on his face.
"What Inuyasha?" she said, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
"The East is this way," he said, pointing the other direction. I giggled, earning a glare from Kagome.
"I knew that!" she declared, walking the right way now. I sighed and continued on behind them.
090909090 THE NEXT DAY 09090909
"Hey Kagome, this is really good!" Inuyasha exclaimed, stuffing his mouth full of ramen. Kagome barely contained her anger, clenching her fist.
"Aren't you eating?" he asked. Kagome snapped and starting shrieking at him. Did I mention that we were in a fresh battle field, with bones and buzzards and decaying flesh?
"How can you eat in a place like this? Keira isn't even eating, but here you are, chomping away!" she yelled, scaring some birds into flight.
"Why aren't you eating Keira? You haven't eaten since I've known you," Inuyasha said, his mouth stuffed full.
"The fact that this happened so close to my lands disturbs me. My people have full jurisdiction here. This fight could have been stopped," I muttered, glaring at the bones. "And I just never feel hungry is all."
"Kagome, judging from your strange food stuffs, your time must trade a lot with other lands." Myoga said, still fascinated by the packaged food. Kagome nodded and put the cup on her hand like a game show assistant.
"Actually Myoga, ramen was created in Japan for the astronauts."
"What are as-taro-nuts?" Myoga asked, stumbling over the enunciation.
"Astronauts," she corrected. "They ride in rocket ships into outer space. Oh, did I mention that we've been on the moon?" she said excitedly.
"What's a rock-it ship?" Inuyasha asked.
"Well, it's long and white and flames shoot out of the bottom, and then 3, 2, 1 countdown to launch! Zoom!" Inuyasha's short attention span had caused him to stop paying attention and slurp his noodles loudly. Kagome became incensed and turned red in anger.
"Trust you to be more fascinated by noodles than space travel!" she grumbled. The sky suddenly grew darker and I felt a demonic aura.
"There's a demon here. Small, but a demon," I said, looking towards the sky. Inuyasha threw his cup away, ignoring Myoga's scolding for littering. A ring of blue fire appeared in front of us, and a childish voice echoed out.
"You there! You possess shards of the Shikon Jewel! Give them to me! The jewel or your life!" A pink blob appeared from the cloud, and it opened its toothless mouth to munch on Inuyasha's head. Inuyasha closed his eyes and scratched his head, before pulling back his hand and slapping the blob. It deflated like a balloon and landed in my arms, where it turned into a fox kit. I grabbed his shirt collar and held him in the air.
"Uhm… what are you doing kid?" I asked, holding him out a little further as he tried to hit me.
"Unhand me heathen!" he shouted. I shrugged and dropped him on the ground. He landed kind of hard, and it took him a minute to scramble away. Inuyasha grabbed him by the tail and held him in the air like I had.
"Nice tail there kid. Looks like a badger or squirrel to me," Inuyasha said, ignoring his squirming.
"Maybe he's a weasel!" I offered, chuckling as he shouted that he was a fox. Kagome let out a girly squeal and started grabbing for him.
"Inuyasha let me hug him next!" she gushed. I could almost see the hearts surrounding her. The kid used a stone statue to anchor Inuyasha's hands to the ground and started digging through Kagome's bag.
"Hey! Get out of my stuff!" she shouted, running towards him. He held up the bottle with the jewel shard and jumped into the air.
"Our time together has been short but sweet! Farewell!" he said, and disappeared in a swirl of blue fire.
"That little brat! He used fox fire to get away!" Inuyasha hollered, finally pulling his hands out from under the stone. I heard a noise to my left, and saw a skull with a tail sticking out scrambling away.
"Uhm guys? He's right there," I said, pointing. Inuyasha stood up and clenched his fist.
"Kagome, I'd get the first aid kit if I were you," I said, wincing as Inuyasha started hitting the kid on the head.
090909090909090909
"Always pick on the little guy," the kid sulked cutely. I tried to hold back a giggle but failed, earning a glare from the kid.
"Just hold still. It might sting a little, just think happy thoughts," Kagome said soothingly as she sprayed some ointment on the giant bump on the fox's head.
"Hey kid, why were you after the jewel shards?" I asked.
"My name is Shippou. I was after the jewel shards so I can avenge my father," he said.
"Avenge? You don't mean he was killed do you?" Kagome asked.
"I get it. He's not strong enough on his own, so he needs the power of the jewel shards," Inuyasha said, taking the bottle out of his shirt.
"I'm strong enough to handle any demon!" he said. Kagome saw the shards and immediately started to bicker with Inuyasha. Shippou stopped in the middle of his speech once he noticed that I was the only one listening.
"Don't worry they do this all the time. Just ignore them until they stop," I said. He ignored me and took a big breath. I tensed for the onslaught of yelling that was sure to follow. Souta used to do this when he was little, so I knew what to expect.
"HEY!" he yelled with all his might. "I'M DOING THE TALKING HERE!" Inuyasha and Kagome froze. Kagome had the bottle in her hand, and was pushing Inuyasha's face away with the other. Inuyasha had a hand on the arm that was pushing his face, and his other hand was reaching for the bottle. Kagome took the bottle back and started listening again.
"It all started not too long ago. Hundreds of warriors were engaged in a battle near the forest where we lived. But a dark cloud passed overhead. A cloud so dark and evil that none could imagine what horrors it would bring. The warriors were troubled by the change in the weather, until they saw two beings emerge from the clouds. One was human looking, and the other looked like a reptile. The human looking one annihilated one side with a single bolt of lightning. The other destroyed the other side by shooting a large ball of flame from his mouth," he ended. He was sitting on the back of Kagome's bike and we were travelling through the forest now.
"Wait, so they killed your father for his jewel shard? Why did he have one?" Kagome asked. I was floating on my cloud beside them, not in the mood to run. Shippou shrugged.
"I can't say. All I know is that the Thunder Brothers steal the jewel from other demons."
"Thunder Brothers?" I asked, letting my cloud dissipate when Kagome stopped on her bike.
"It's a nickname, because of their thunder and lightning attacks," Shippou said. Inuyasha stopped in a tree above us and I jumped up beside him.
"Thunder Brothers? You heard of 'em Myoga?" Inuyasha asked. Myoga appeared on his shoulder and nodded.
"He must be speaking of Hiten and Manten, and if the rumors are true, then they are evil incarnate," he said solemnly. Inuyasha scoffed and crossed his arms.
"Big deal! So I fight the brothers and I walk away with all their jewel shards," he boasted.
"Don't just find them and start swinging your sword around," I warned. "They aren't just keeping the jewel shards for decoration. If you rush into this, you'll get yourself killed."
"You're no match for the Thunder Brothers!" Shippou said. "You're only half demon; I can smell the human in you. This is between demons, its got nothing to do with half breeds such as yourself, so stay out of it!"
"What does being half demon have to do with anything? Inuyasha's beaten plenty of full demons already! Just because you're only half demon doesn't mean you're weak! You should be ashamed Shippou!" I scolded. Inuyasha jumped down and started punching him on the head. Shippou started mumbling some apologies and bowed.
"In fact, as a token of my apology, take this!" he said, using the stone statue again. He stuck a seal on and landed on the ground. "As long as that seal stays in place, you'll be stuck there!" he laughed. He turned to Kagome and me next.
"I don't like to hit women, I hope you can forgive me!" he said, weakly karate chopping both of our necks. Kagome and I grabbed him at the same time, and he tried to use his blue fire to get away. Kagome dropped him, but I was immune to the fire so I held on.
"How about a little respect here?" I demanded, flicking him on the forehead.
"Let me go! I need to avenge my father!" he cried, squirming desperately in my grasp.
"Fine, I'll help. But we can't just run into this! The first lesson in the Keira school of battle is: STRATEGY!" I exclaimed, setting him on the ground and digging out a piece of paper.
"I don't know about this.." Shippou said hesitantly. Kagome put a hand on his shoulder for reassurance.
"Keira's good at these kinds of things. You should at least listen to her Shippou," she said. He nodded and sat down across from me.
"Okay to start, let's talk about position. We want to keep the brothers on land that we are familiar with. Let's keep it near or on the battlefield. Avoid the marshes and obstacles that will slow you down, i.e. rocks, water, tall grass, tree roots, etc. Make sure you have a clear view of the sky at all times," I said. They both nodded and I was about to continue until Inuyasha yelled at us.
"GET THIS THING OFF ME PLEASE!" he shrieked. I gave Shippou a pointed look and he went over and peeled the seal off. The statue shrunk back to the size of a pebble and Inuyasha stood straight.
"Inuyasha, sit down. This is important. You'll be in this plan too," I said, and they all gathered around while I schemed. "I'm thinking that Shippou could act like he stole the jewel and ran away. Then Kagome would show up and save him, but be knocked out. Then she could get kidnapped. She can say that Inuyasha is her "lover" and that he has most of the Jewel, which he would gladly trade for her safe return. Most likely, they'll both come along to make sure they have a bigger chance of winning a fight, which is where I come in. I can follow after the one that kidnaps Kagome on the way back to their hideout and intervene if things start getting risky for Kagome. Then I follow back, and I take care of the reptile. Inuyasha, I'm leaving the human looking one to you got it? Then, we defeat them both and take the jewel shards. Ta-Da!" I finished, putting my pencil down.
"That's actually not a bad idea. But do I really have to act like I'm Kagome's "lover"?" Inuyasha whined.
"I suppose not. You could deny it and all once they get here, I'll leave that up to you. The lover part is just to get them here," I explained. "See Shippou, it's water-tight!" I said happily. He nodded and stood up.
"Let's get going then." I said, standing and grabbing my sword and daggers from Kagome's bag.